Bhuvneshwar Kumar quashes suggestions that he no longer wants to play Test cricket

Last week, the Indian selectors omitted Bhuvneshwar Kumar from the squad to tour England, and immediately ‘reports’ started doing the rounds. Inside sources initially claimed that Bhuvneshwar had been left out due to being physically fragile but earlier today a more scathing report emerged. Times of India reported that Bhuvneshwar, in fact, had lost motivation to play the longest format of the game and claimed that the pacer was content with being a white-ball specialist. 

"Bhuvneshwar just doesn't want to play Test cricket anymore. That drive has gone missing,” TOI quoted an inside source as saying.

“Those who have seen him from close insist he brought in a huge change in his work-drills a couple of seasons ago, doing away with heavyweight training, falling to the lure of the white-ball comfort and avoiding those hours of long spells that are so integral to red-ball cricket,” the report further added. 

The report left many fans concerned, but now Bhuvneshwar himself has publicly come out and rubbished the report. Taking to Twitter, Bhuvneshwar has asserted that he still has the motivation to play all three formats of the game, and has insisted that the reports are false. The 31-year-old has further criticised the media for circulating reports based on unreliable sources.

“There have been articles about me not wanting to play Test cricket. Just to clarify, I have always prepared myself for all three formats irrespective of the team selection and will continue to do the same. Suggestion - please don’t write your assumptions based on 'sources',” Bhuvneshwar wrote on Twitter.

The 31-year-old last played Test cricket for India in 2018. He has, incidentally, also not played any red-ball cricket for three years.